The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-20
ROBERT e. LEE.
Mr.. w. w. Corcoran's Tribute to the
Great Soldier.
From the Baltimore San.

From the Baltimore san.
Mr.. w. W. Corcoran, the venerable phi
lanthropist, has written letter expressing
regret that the state of his health will not
permit of his acceptance Of an invitation to
attend the laying of the cornerstone OF the
Lee monument in Richmond, Oct. q. OF
Gen Robert r. Lee Mr.. Corcoran says:
1T was my good fortune to have been
honored with the intimate acquaintance
and close friendship of Gen. Lee during the
whole period of his public career, and
whether recall him as he moved in the
social sphere, which he adorned by his
virtues and graces, or as he lowered above
his contemporaries on that higher stage
where the lustre of his great qualities shone
i'll the eyes of the whole civilized world, l
can truly say, with no small experience OF
my fellow men, that of all the men L ever
knew he always seemed to me the most re-
markable for the grandeur as well as for
the symmetry of the elements which com
posed the strength and beauty of his peer,
less character. For such was the natural
constitution and such the h rInonious blend
ing of these elements that, in the gentleness
and benignity of his demeanor, he was seen
to be as great in his goodness as he was good
in all his greatness.
Like all truly great and good men, Gen.
Lee had i'll the highest degree that SIM
plicity of character which springs from
purity of heart as well as from the perfect
transparency of clear intelligence En-
dowed with an understanding which was as
calm as it was penetrating and profound, he
always possessed his soul in a patience
which never murmured, and serenity
which was never rufied, whatever might be
the duties he was summoned to perform or
whatever might be the perils be, was called
to face.
10 J,,E,,
No trial ever shook his steadfast mind. In
trepid in all assaults of fortune and the very
soul of honor, he was the Chevalier Bayard
of his day--a knight without fear and with
out reproach, because in him all that was
soidierly i'll conduct met and mingled with
all that was blameless in life With an in
tegrity which rooted itself in the very fibre
of his moral constitution, and which, there
fore, never gathered spot or stain through
out the whole of his long and eventful
career, he yet had not the slightest trace of
vanity or consciousness in his nature, but
walked before men with the mOdesty and
humility born of deep religious spirit.
ut is only those who knew him well in
all the serene depths Of his mental and moral
being who can account for the heroism he
displayed on the field of battle, and the
greater heroism he displayed after he had
sheathcd his sword and bowed, without re-
pining, to the decree of an overruling Prov
idence
Although the life and example of such a
man may justly seem to belong, in some
| special sense, to the State and section which
stood in the clearest sight of all his great
ness and all his goodness, yet the whole
country may rightly claim its share in the
heritage of that renown which all generous
minds are quick to accord to exalted virtues
wherever found, and to magnanimity of soul
wherever it is inspired by a supreme and
| conscientious sense of right"